ID :
73454
Sun, 08/02/2009 - 23:23
Auther :

Rice to deal with swimsuit malfunction




Triple Olympic champion Stephanie Rice says an ongoing swimsuit malfunction will not
derail her quest for a maiden world title at the Foro Italico on Sunday.
Rice qualified fastest for the 400m individual medley final in four minutes 34.62
seconds despite her Jaked01 suit filling with water in the final freestyle leg.
The world record holder says it has been a consistent problem with her new
generation suit, but she's willing to deal with the drag at the end of the race
because of the significant gains she gets in the opening three strokes of the
medley.
"It just keeps filling up with water in the freestyle leg," said Rice.
"It definitely is great for the fly, back and breast so I think you have to kind of
compromise there and go with the drag in the freestyle.
"It is one of those things you have to try not to think about. The first time it was
really getting to me but now I'm a bit more used to it."
Rice cruised into the final with a composed swim, the fastest heat swim of her career.
But the Australian admits the race felt a lot tougher than it looked.
"When I was swimming I was thinking 'I hope I'm going fast enough because this is
hurting'," she said.
"Last year I was fitter for this race so it didn't feel like it was hurting so much."
Australian teammate Samantha Hamill (4:37.84) missed the final by less than four
tenths of a second in ninth place.
Rice will be one of several Australians chasing a final session gold rush later on
Sunday with the men's 4x100m medley relay team reaching the final as second fastest
qualifiers.
The quartet of Ashley Delaney, Christian Sprenger, Andrew Lauterstein and Matt
Targett clocked 3:29.84 in the heats, to narrowly edge in front of the USA team
(3:29.94) but just shade Germany (3:29.48).
Sprenger is expected to be the only swimmer substituted for the final, with 100m
world champion Brenton Rickard set to come into the team.
Australia will have four fastest qualifiers in the seven finals on the last day of
competition after Cate Campbell (50m freestyle) and Sarah Katsoulis (50m
breaststroke) led their semi-finals on Saturday.
In other morning heat swims on Sunday Leith Brodie clocked 4:15.52 in the 400m
individual medley to place 14th, while rookie Stephen Parkes (4:18.60) also missed
the final in 22nd place.



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